LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session April 20, 1999 TO: Honorable Bob Turner, Chair, House Committee on Public Safety FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB2240 by Hupp (Relating to establishing a procedure for a person to renew the person's driver's license and the person's license to carry a concealed handgun at the same time.), As Introduced ************************************************************************** * Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for * * HB2240, As Introduced: negative impact of $(1,156,114) through * * the biennium ending August 31, 2001. * * * * The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal * * basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of * * the bill. * ************************************************************************** General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact: **************************************************** * Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) * * Impact to General Revenue Related * * Funds * * 2000 $(925,025) * * 2001 (231,089) * * 2002 (231,089) * * 2003 (3,231,089) * * 2004 (3,231,089) * **************************************************** All Funds, Five-Year Impact: *************************************************************************** *Fiscal Probable Savings/(Cost) from Change in Number of State * * Year General Revenue Fund Employees from FY 1999 * * 0001 * * 2000 $(925,025) 4.0 * * 2001 (231,089) 4.0 * * 2002 (231,089) 4.0 * * 2003 (3,231,089) 4.0 * * 2004 (3,231,089) 4.0 * *************************************************************************** Technology Impact It is estimated the Technology Impact for the bill would be $816,374 for Fiscal Year 2000 and $129,466 for each year thereafter. Fiscal Analysis The bill would amend the Transportation Code and the Government Code to require the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to establish a procedure to allow a person to renew a driver s license and license to carry a concealed handgun at the same time. The bill would extend the validity period of a concealed handgun license from 4 years to 6 years. The bill would allow an eligible person who holds a driver s license or a commercial driver s license to voluntarily surrender that license before the expiration date and acquire a new license that would expire on the same date as the person s license to carry a concealed handgun. The bill requires DPS to develop a standard application form for the voluntary surrender/reissuance procedure and would allow DPS to charge a specified fee for that procedure. Methodology Passage of the bill would require DPS to make significant modifications to computer applications supporting the Department's Distributed Driver License System to provide for concealed handgun license renewal screens and the capture and separation of digital images for production of both types of licenses. Additional modifications to that system would be necessary to remove edits limiting the validity period of driver s licenses and allow for a manual override to an expiration date to match the expiration on the concealed handgun license. It is estimated that the Department's Information Management Services (IMS) would incur contract programming costs of $668,600 and need two additional employees to make the necessary changes. The Department's License Issuance Bureau (LIB) would be required to provide added technical support for changes in the driver s license issuance application (i.e., design, development, testing, training, etc.). LIB would need two additional Administrative Technician IV s for these responsibilities. The bill could generate some revenue if a concealed handgun licensee decided to voluntarily surrender an existing driver s license and pay the prescribed fee for reissuance. It is expected that the bill would result in a loss of revenue (potentially as much as one third of program funding) due to the extension of the validity period of a concealed handgun license from 4 years to 6 years without an accompanying increase in the license fee. Extending the validity period of a concealed handgun license from 4 to 6 years would also result in the Department experiencing a sharp drop-off in concealed handgun license fees for fiscal years 2003, 2004, when renewal fees for 4-year licenses would have been received (this revenue would not be realized until fiscal years 2005, 2006). In fiscal year 1998 the Department collected approximately $5,000,000 in handgun license fees from individuals who either renewed or applied for an original license. If roughly the same number of persons applied for/renewed a handgun license in FY2000 as in FY1998 and those individuals were not required to renew a handgun license until fiscal year 2005, revenue losses in fiscal year 2003 could be as much as $3 million. Local Government Impact No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated. Source Agencies: 405 Department of Public Safety LBB Staff: JK, MD